1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to use of 3-indolepyruvic acid as an agent for blocking the toxic effects of oxygen free radicals by removing them from the environment. The compound can consequently be administered with advantage in the treatment of a number of degenerative diseases originated by oxygen free radicals.
With the term peripheral pathologic conditions, we mean the conditions which are found out of the central nervous system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
3-indolepyruvic acid is a per se well known compound.
A number of methods for its production have been proposed.
In European patent 0106813 a process is described for the enzymatic synthesis of 3-indolepyruvic acid, in which aspartate aminotransferase is used as an enzyme.
In International patent application W087/00169 a process is described for the chemical synthesis of 3-indolepyruvic acid, in which a coupling reaction is used starting from 1-tryptophane.
In International application W088/09789 3-indolepyruvic acid and derivatives thereof have been described as pharmaceutical agents for the treatment of diseases of the central nervous system due to an excess of excitatory aminoacids.
Since several years it has been known that the oxygen free radicals when produced in the organism to an extent higher than the detoxication capability with which living beings are provided, are likely to attack basic cell structures, such as nucleic acids, proteins and membranes, leading at last to the death of the cell, and thus to degenerative diseases of all types in the affected tissues. In the papers of an international Symposium held at Uppsala (Sweden) in 1979, published in Acta Physiol. Scand. Sub 492, the oxygen free radicals were indicated as the cause of a plurality of diseases, both central (cerebral ischemia, hypoglycemia, hypoxiemia) and peripheral (tumours, acute and chronic inflammations, immunological disorders).
In a volume issued by Ravenpress in 1984 ("Free radicals in Molecular Biology, Aging and Disease"), an excess presence of oxygen free radicals is considered as the cause not only of the above mentioned disorders, but also of the normal aging in which all human beings are involved.
In a wide and documented review of 1985 ("The importance of free radicals and catalytic metal ions in human diseases"), published on Molec. Aspects Med. Vol. VIII, pages 89-193, B. Halliwell and M. C. Gutteridge describe the free radicals as the cause of diseases which range from inflammatory and autoimmune disorders to the syndrome from respiratory insufficiency, aging, intestinal and cardiac ischemia, cerebral ischemia including a plurality of neurologic disorders, malaria and tumours.
In the above mentioned international application W088/09789 is described a possible mechanism of transformation of 3-indolepyruvic acid into kynurenic acid, through opening of the indole ring, presumably due to an intervention of oxygen free radicals.